I would dearly love to see the look on president Obama's face, as well as the sycophant Ash Carter. Snicker...snicker...snicker
:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-has-chosen-retired-marine-gen-james-mattis-for-secretary-of-defense/2016/12/01*6c6b3b74-aff9-11e6-be1c-8cec35b1ad25_story.html?utm_term=.797b0b83f264Trump has chosen retired Marine Gen. James Mattis for secretary of defensePresident-elect Donald Trump has chosen retired Marine Gen. James N. Mattis to be secretary of defense, according to people familiar with the decision, nominating a former senior military officer who led operations across the Middle East to run the Pentagon less than four years after he hung up his uniform.
To take the job, Mattis will need Congress to pass new legislation to bypass a federal law stating that defense secretaries must not have been on active duty in the previous seven years. Congress has granted a similar exception just once, when Gen. George C. Marshall was appointed to the job in 1950.
An announcement is likely by early next week, according to the people familiar with the choice. Jason Miller, a spokesman with the Trump t***sition team, tweeted Thursday evening that no decision had been made. TrumpâÃÂÃÂs son Donald Jr., meanwhile, retweeted a report saying that Mattis got the job.
Mattis, 66, retired as the chief of U.S. Central Command in spring 2013 after serving more than four decades in the Marine Corps. He is known as one of the most influential military leaders of his generation, serving as a strategic thinker while occasionally drawing rebukes for his aggressive talk. Since retiring, he has served as a consultant and as a visiting fellow with the Hoover Institution, a think tank at Stanford University.
Here are the people whose names have been floated for TrumpâÃÂÃÂs Cabinet
Like Trump, Mattis favors a tougher stance against U.S. adversaries abroad, especially Iran. The general, speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in April, said that while security discussions often focus on terrorist groups such as the Islamic State or al-Qaeda, the Iranian regime is âÃÂÃÂthe single most enduring threat to stability and peace in the Middle East.âÃÂÃÂ
[What Trump may not know about the generals heâÃÂÃÂs eyeing for top positions]
Mattis said the next president âÃÂÃÂis going to inherit a messâÃÂàand argued that the nuclear deal signed by the Obama administration last year may slow IranâÃÂÃÂs ambitions to get a nuclear weapon but will not stop them.
âÃÂÃÂIn terms of strengthening AmericaâÃÂÃÂs global standing among European and Mideastern nations alike, the sense is that America has become somewhat irrelevant in the Middle East, and we certainly have the least influence in 40 years,âÃÂàMattis said.
But Mattis may break with TrumpâÃÂÃÂs practice of calling out allies for not doing enough to build stability. In the same event, Mattis said he was troubled by President ObamaâÃÂÃÂs remarks in a March interview with the Atlantic that there were âÃÂÃÂfree ridersâÃÂàaccepting U.S. help without reciprocating. He added that he read the Atlantic story after printing it out and briefly thought he had accidentally mixed it with a news clip that highlighted TrumpâÃÂÃÂs views.
âÃÂÃÂThe president-elect is smart to think about putting someone as respected as Jim Mattis in this role,âÃÂàsaid a former senior Pentagon official. âÃÂÃÂHeâÃÂÃÂs a warrior, scholar and straight shooter âÃÂàliterally and figuratively. He speaks t***h to everyone and would certainly speak t***h to this new commander in chief.âÃÂÃÂ
But the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss TrumpâÃÂÃÂs personnel choices, said: âÃÂÃÂIf thereâÃÂÃÂs any concern at all, itâÃÂÃÂs the principle of civilian control over the military. This role was never intended to be a kind of Joint Chiefs of Staff on steroids, and thatâÃÂÃÂs the biggest single risk tied to Mattis. For Mattis, the biggest risk for him personally is that he will have a national security adviser in the form of Mike Flynn whose management style and extreme views may arch MattisâÃÂÃÂs eyebrows and cause conflict over time. ItâÃÂÃÂs no fun to be secretary of defense if you have to constantly feud with the White House.âÃÂÃÂ
Mattis served from November 2007 to August 2010 as the supreme allied commander of t***sformation for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, focused on improving the military effectiveness of allies. Trump called NATO âÃÂÃÂobsoleteâÃÂàearlier this year before saying later that he was âÃÂÃÂall for NATOâÃÂàbut wanted all members to spend at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense, a NATO goal.
Mattis would join the Trump administration after calls by some conservatives for him to join the p**********l race in a long-shot independent bid aimed at derailing TrumpâÃÂÃÂs ascent this spring. The general declined to do so, saying he did not understand the speculation.
Mattis, whose nicknames include âÃÂÃÂMad DogâÃÂàand the âÃÂÃÂWarrior Monk,âÃÂàhas had a leading hand in some of the U.S. militaryâÃÂÃÂs most significant operations in the past 20 years. As a one-star general, he led an amphibious task force of Marines that carried out a November 2001 raid in helicopters on AfghanistanâÃÂÃÂs Kandahar province, giving the Pentagon a new foothold against the Taliban after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Using the call sign âÃÂÃÂChaos,âÃÂàhe commanded a division of Marines during the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and returned there the following year to lead Marines in bloody street fighting in the city of Fallujah.
Mattis continued to rise through the ranks and establish his credentials as a military thinker, co-authoring the U.S. militaryâÃÂÃÂs new counterinsurgency manual with then-Army Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus while Mattis was a three-star general at Quantico, Va.
He was considered a leading contender to become commandant of the Marine Corps in 2010 but was bypassed in favor of Gen. James F. Amos. Instead, Mattis replaced Petraeus as the chief of Central Command, overseeing U.S. military operations across the Middle East.
Even though Central Command did not encompass Israel, Mattis made a concerted effort to reach out to his Israeli military counterparts, according to Steven Simon, who worked with Mattis when he served on ObamaâÃÂÃÂs National Security Council.
Simon, who now teaches at Amherst College, said Mattis made frequent stops in Israel during trips to the region, part of an effort to encourage the Jewish state and its Arab neighbors to work together to counter Iranian influence. âÃÂÃÂThey respected Mattis because they saw him as a straight shooter and a good listener,âÃÂàSimon said of the Israelis and Arabs.
The general retired from that position in 2013 about five months earlier than expected, prompting speculation that he was forced out after clashing with some in the Obama administration on Iran policy. U.S. officials denied that was the case at the time, and Mattis declined to comment.
Mattis occasionally has come under scrutiny for impolitic remarks. Most notably, he said in 2005 during a panel discussion in San Diego that âÃÂÃÂitâÃÂÃÂs fun to shoot some peopleâÃÂàand âÃÂÃÂI like brawling,âÃÂàdrawing criticism from the Marine commandant at the time, Gen. Michael Hagee. But Hagee also later backed Mattis, saying the general often spoke with candor to reflect the horrors of war. Other supporters noted that he often stressed to his troops that it was important to treat civilians in a combat zone with care.
It is unclear whether the legislation required to make Mattis the Pentagon chief will be difficult to obtain from Congress. The 1947 national security law said that a general must wait 10 years from leaving active duty before becoming defense secretary. An exception was granted on a one-time basis for Marshall, with lawmakers saying in special legislation at the time that it was the âÃÂÃÂsense of the Congress that after General Marshall leaves the office of Secretary of Defense, no additional appointments of military men to that office shall be approved.âÃÂÃÂ
The 10-year period was reduced to seven years in 2008 for several senior civilian defense positions, including defense secretary.
Philip Rucker, Adam Entous and Missy Ryan contributed to this report.
I would dearly love to see the look on president O... (